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The Presidency has ruled out the possibility of President
Muhammadu Buhari resigning his position over his ill health as being suggested
by some Nigerians.
In an interview with journalists in Lagos on Friday, Special
Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, said those
calling for the President’s resignation were merely expressing their opinion.

According to him, the views of over 15 million Nigerians
that voted for the President were more important than such opinions, while
expressing confidence hat God would fully restore Buhari’s health.
The President returned from medical vacation to the United
Kingdom on March 10, where he spent 49 days. And since his return from
vacation, Buhari has been absent at some Federal Executive Council meetings,
including that of last Wednesday, where Vice President Yemi Osinbajo presided.
It was learnt that the President needed some rest and had
“asked that all the files on his table be brought to him at his official
residence…

Mr Samuel Ogbemudia Jr is the eldest son of the former two
time governor of old Bendel State, late Dr Samuel Ogbemudia. In this interview
with Saturday Vanguard, he shared his experiences with his late father whom he
described as a genius and a man who sacrificed his personal interest for the
interest of the majority He gave reasons why his father supported Governor
Godwin Obaseki rather than his nephew and governorship candidate of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP), Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu and other national issues. He
also shared his father’s regret on Nigeria before he died. Excerpts: Can you
share with us briefly how your late father brought you up. He brought us up very strictly. I was born
in Kaduna, then he took me to England for my education and I concluded in
America. Anytime he had opportunity to talk to me it was always very touching.
One thing he always told me was “don’t drink, don’t smoke” and I found that to
be very useful. He was always there to keep us in line, al…

The Federal High Court in Lagos on Monday ordered the
temporary seizure of a 12-storeyed building belonging to the senator
representing Delta North Senatorial District, Peter Nwaoboshi, over an alleged
contract scam of N1.5bn.
The said building which the court ordered the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission to seize from Nwaoboshi, a Peoples Democratic Party
member, is located at 27, Marine Road, Apapa.

Justice Abdulaziz Anka made the seizure order after
entertaining an ex parte application brought before him on Monday by the
anti-graft agency.
Joined with Nwaoboshi in the application were his two
companies — Golden Touch Construction Project Limited, and Bilderberg
Enterprises Limited.
The EFCC told the judge that Nwaoboshi, through his company,
Bilderberg Enterprises Limited, got a N1.580bn contract to supply some
construction equipment to the Delta State Direct Labour Agency sometime in
2010.
The anti-graft agency, however, claimed that Nwaoboshi’s
company supplied second-han…

The newly established Africa International University,
Toru-Orua in Sagbama Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, has boasted that
exporting nurses to other countries of the world will be one of the core
priorities of the institution.
The Coordinator, AIU, Mr. Theo Theodorus, who disclosed this
in an interview, said the institution was modelled after universities in
Europe.

The AIU, which began academic activities last week with 510
students, is an initiative of the Bayelsa State Government and is approved by
the National Universities Commission in July 2016.
The university will be run as a Public-Private Partnership
venture. The state government will only provide the enabling environment, while
the funding will come from the private sector.
Theodorus said, ‘’The institution will export nurses to
different parts of the world, as obtainable in Europe, because nursing is one
of our priorities. If universities in Europe can do it, why can’t we do it?
“A plan for the establishment of a…

Seven persons have been killed in suicide attacks at two
separate locations in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.
In one of the attacks, a female suicide bomber lost her life
when she prematurely detonate an explosive strapped on her body upon being
accosted by some vigilantes.

The terrorist died alone, while two other suspected female
suicide bombers who seemed to be on the same mission with her, chickened out
and took to their heels.
But they were gunned down by the vigilantes before they
could escape.
In the second attack, which took place on the outskirts of
Maiduguri, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive which claimed the lives of
three persons.
The police spokesperson in Borno State, Murtala
Ibrahim, in a message to journalists,
said, “Today (Monday) at about 0510hrs, three female suicide bombers with IED
strapped to their bodies, attempted to
infiltrate Mamanti Village in Jere Local Government Area. They were intercepted
by the civilian JTF.
“In the process, one of the s…

The 11 electricity distribution companies operating in the
country on Monday said the Federal Government had failed to release the N100bn
subsidy it promised operators in the sector after private investors took over
about 18 successor companies of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria on
November 1, 2013.
Speaking under the aegis of the Association of Nigerian
Electricity Distributors, the power firms also faulted the poor funding of the
transmission unit of the power sector, saying this had resulted in the huge
load rejection cases by them.

The Director, Advocacy and Research, ANED, Mr. Sunday
Oduntan, explained in a statement issued in Abuja that the Federal Government
held 40 per cent equity in the power distribution firms and noted that it
committed to many interventions in the performance agreement between the Discos
and the Bureau of Public Enterprises.
“To date, the government has not met the privatisation
transaction foundational requirements of providing N100bn in sub…

The Kano Emirate Council on Monday dismissed as false
the reports that the Emir of Kano, Mallam Muhammadu Sanusi (11)
inherited N4bn on ascending the throne.
It said the monarch inherited the sum of N1.8bn not N4bn.

Prior to ascending the throne, the council said it had in
its coffers the sum of N2.8bn in different banks.
Walin Kano, Alhaji Mahe
Wali, who addressed reporters on
behalf of the emir in Kano on Monday,
said out of the said amount, the council withdrew N981, 784, 503.79 for
the payment of the late Alhaji Ado Bayero Royal City project, leaving a balance
of N1.8bn.
Other expenditures, he explained, were
the payment of N152m for the
procurement of furniture for the palace, adding that after the passing of Emir Ado Bayero, his furniture were
removed and distributed to his heirs in accordance with Islamic injunction.
He also said
N108m was paid to the heirs of the late
emir by the council in respect of his personal cars inherited by Sanusi.

The naira reversed some of the gains it recorded last week,
closing at 390 against the United States dollar on the parallel market on
Monday.
The local currency had closed at 380/dollar on Friday.

The naira has been hovering between 380/dollar and
410/dollar in the past two weeks as the Central Bank of Nigeria continues to
intervene in the foreign exchange market to stabilise the exchange rate.
The interventions are aimed at narrowing the spread between
the official and black market rates of the naira against the dollar.
The CBN has sold around $4bn since intervention began in
February, according to analysts.
After touching an all-time-low of 520/dollar in February,
the CBN had increased forex supply into the market to enhance the naira.
As a result, the naira appreciated to 375/dollar in March.
However, following some speculative activities and other market dynamics, the
local currency fell to 410/dollar two weeks ago.
Last week, the naira reversed the loss and rose to
380/dollar af…

The Federal Government on Monday announced that it had
commenced discussions with illegal refiners of crude oil in order to have them
work as duly recognised modular refinery operators.
It also stated that it would ensure that militancy in the
Niger Delta ended by the end of this year, adding that it would sustain its
engagements with stakeholders in the region in that respect.

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe
Kachikwu, disclosed this at the 10th Nigerian Association for Energy
Economics/International Association for Energy Economics Conference in Abuja.
The theme for this year’s NAEE/IAEE conference was, ‘Energy,
Economy and the Environment: The Interplay of Technology, Economics and Public
Policy’.
Kachikwu, who was represented by the Executive Secretary of
the Petroleum Technology Development Fund, Dr. Bello Gusau, said the Federal
Government was working out how to involve illegal refiners in the new modular
refinery scheme.
He stated, “In the past two weeks,…

A serving senior official of the Independent National
Electoral Commission, Mrs. Fidelia Omoile, has been remanded in prison for
allegedly receiving N112.4m as a bribe during the build-up to the 2015
presidential election.
The money Omoile allegedly collected was said to be part of
the $115m (N23bn as of 2015), allegedly disbursed by the then Minister of
Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke.

Omoile, who works at
INEC office in Isoko-South Local Government Area of Delta State, was
arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Monday.
Justice Efreti Abang of a Federal High Court sitting in
Asaba, Delta State, ordered Omoile to be
remanded in prison after she was arraigned on two charges.
The INEC official was arrested on April 11, 2016 following
an intelligence report received by the EFCC on the activities of some INEC
officials, who allegedly connived with some Non-Governmental Organisations
to defraud the Federal Government of
millions of naira.
The first cha…

A former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Prof.
Chukwuma Soludo, on Monday highlighted steps the Federal Government needed to
return the country out of the biting economic challenges and get back on the
path of growth.
Soludo said policymakers must get the country out of the
current multiple exchange rates’ regime and reduce the wide spread between the
official and parallel market exchange rates of the naira to a maximum of three
to five per cent.

The currency currently has about five exchange rates,
according to analysts.
The former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, who was
the Chairman of the Economic Discourse organised by the Institute of Chartered
Accountants of Nigeria, spoke in Lagos while fielding questions from
journalists shortly after the event.
He pointed out that policymakers were expected to be taking
bold steps that would navigate the country away from crude oil dependency to a
non-oil economy on the long run.
Soludo commended steps taken by the CBN in t…

The suspended Director-General of the National Intelligence
Agency, Amb. Ayo Oke, on Monday appeared
before a committee set up by President Muhammadu Buhari to investigate him and
the suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal.
Oke is being investigated by the committee chaired by
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo over his claim that the money uncovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission at a residential apartment at
Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos, belongs to
the NIA.

He had earlier appeared before the committee on Wednesday
after his suspension was announced.
The acting Chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, on Friday
appeared before the same committee to give evidence on what his commission
discovered about the money, the owners and their plans.
Oke’s appearance on Monday is believed to be aimed at giving
him the opportunity to answer some questions arising from Magu’s submission to
the panel.
The committee that has the Attorney General of the
Fe…

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has charged the
immediate past Governor of Niger State, Babangida Aliyu, and the 2015
governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the state, Umar
Nasko, with an alleged N3bn fraud.
It was learnt that the charges had been filed before a
Federal High Court in Minna, Niger State.

Nasko also served as Chief of Staff and Commissioner for
Environment under Aliyu’s administration between 2007 and 2015.
According to the EFCC, Aliyu, who is popularly known as the
chief servant, allegedly diverted N520m from the Niger State Government
Security Account domiciled in Zenith Bank account between January and March 2011.
Within the same period, the former governor also allegedly
diverted a separate N1.7bn from the same account.
The commission said in 2015 Aliyu and Nasko allegedly
diverted about N1.09bn, which was 16 per
cent shares of Niger State in the North South Power Company Limited.
The alleged crimes are believed to be in contraventi…

The Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, has approved
N1.25bn for the training of civil servants in 2017.
This was disclosed at the 2017 first bi-annual meeting of
the Lagos State Public Service Joint Negotiating Council (JNC) held at the
Public Service Staff Development Centre in Magodo on Monday.

The Acting Head of Service, Folashade Adesoye, said the
government increased the funds for capacity building of workers from N1bn in
2016 to N1.25bn in 2017.
She said, “The increase is in recognition of the role of
human resources in governance and to improve the state workers’ skills and
competence.”
The Commissioner for Establishments, Training and Pensions,
Dr Benson Oke, said all stakeholders must sustain the existing atmosphere of
industrial harmony in the state and transform such harmony into greater
productivity.
Oke said the state was committed to a regimen of training
and retraining of workers.
He advised the JNC to be committed to the promotion of
teamwork, adding that such wo…

Facebook celebrated the achievements and products of its
growing African developer and partner ecosystem at its annual F8 developer
conference held in San Jose, California, on April 18 and 19, 2017.
African developers shared the stage with Facebook and
developers from around the world, showcasing products and services they have
created for their local communities and the global market.
F8 hosts more than 4,000 people in person and hundreds of
thousands of people, watching via Facebook Live for two days of new products,
tools, interactive demos and speakers to help developers build, grow and
monetise their apps.

This year, Facebook brought F8 to developers around the
world through F8 Meetups hosted with tech hubs around the world.
In Africa, it hosted F8 Meetups in Nairobi, Lagos, and Cape
Town, where participants watched live streams of the sessions in San Francisco.
“We are partnering many African developers to launch
products that not only meet the needs of their local markets, but…

Former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives and
2015 governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Imo State, Chief Emeka Ihedioha, has berated the Governor Rochas Okorocha
administration for the poor development of the state.
Ihedioha spoke at a
lecture entitled “The Role of the Political Class in Realising the Collective
Dreams of Justice, Equity, Fairness and Financial Accountability in Imo State”,
at the 2017 Diocesan Synod of the Diocese on the Lake, Church of Nigeria
(Anglican Communion) St Mary’s Magdalene Parish Oguta on Monday.

He said Imo had the highest Gross Domestic Product in the South-East, saying it does not
impact on the living standard of the people in the state.
Ihedioha said, “I need to remind us that the attainment of
justice, equity, fairness and accountability in Imo State will remain elusive
so far as our constitution the very instrument of our federation is applied in
breach and until the legislature indisputably oversights the …

The Federal Government has appealed to the United States for
support to eliminate malaria in Nigeria by 2020.
The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, made the call
on Monday at the 2017 World Malaria Day celebration organised by the US Embassy
in Abuja.

He stated that the Federal Government was determined to
achieve the feat by 2020, noting that available indices in the country
indicated that the dream of a malaria-free nation was far from being realised.
He said, “Our target is to achieve zero mortality rate from
malaria by 2020, very ambitious target but do-able; we can achieve it that no
Nigerian died of malaria by 2020.
“We are working together with the (Nigerian) Governors Forum
to build a strong alliance on health system, to treat malaria with the prevention of malaria and make sure
we take malaria off the street.
“I use this occasion to solicit for more support to enable
us to achieve a pre-elimination phase in 2020.”
He commended the US Agency for International Developm…

A Deputy Comptroller of the Nigeria Customs Service, Mr.
Abdullahi Umar, on Sunday said Customs officers seized over 750 bags of rice
and other prohibited goods estimated at over N52m in Kwara State after clashes
with smugglers.
He added that some smugglers and residents attempted to
lynch some of the operatives, who, however, escaped by a whisker.
Umar noted that smugglers at border areas had become more
daring and had devised means to evade arrests.

He said the NCS was making efforts to improve on trade
facilitation and revenue generation.
According to him, the NCS generated about N400m from excise
duties in March, and N100m from vehicle duties within two weeks.
He said, “What we have seized are enormous. There are over
750 bags of rice in our custody. We have seized goods worth millions of naira.
All our warehouses are filled up; we do not even have where to put seized goods
now.”

The state Public Relations Officer, NCS, Mr. George Onuma,
warned against smuggling of second-hand ty…

Residents of Soliyi community, Gbagada, in the Kosofe Local Government Area of Lagos
State, have decried the alleged neglect of the area, saying the state
government abandoned them for the past 40 years.
The community said the only road linking the community to
the outside world was too narrow for the more than 500,000 residents, who were
usually held in heavy traffic jams.

They said they were afraid that the inauguration of a
newly-constructed auditorium of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry, could
worsen traffic congestion in the community.
The Chairman of the Action Commitee, Mr. Moses Eniayewu,
said residents wanted the government to create five additional routes to ease
traffic in and out of the community.
He said, “Our community can only be accessed through one
route – the Ayodele Okeowo Street – which serves as both the inlet and outlet
to the community. There are over 500,000 people living here, who are mostly
career men and women in various organisations, including traders …

No fewer than eight persons were reportedly killed in auto
crashes in Anambra, Lagos and Ogun states, while about 12 persons sustained
varying degrees of injury.
In the Anambra incident, which occurred on Awor Road,
Oraifite village, in the Ekwusigo Local Government Area of the state, a man
identified as Chinedu Nwannem, his two children and two sisters-in-law were
killed by a speeding convoy.

While two persons lost their lives and seven others were
injured in a head-on collision at the Odogbolu Junction, along the Ijebu
Ode-Benin Expressway, Ogun State on Sunday, a bus conductor died in the Lagos
multiple crashes which happened on Isolo-Oshodi Road on the same day.
A Facebook user, Francisca Odina, who shared the news of the
family’s death on her wall, said the convoy fled the scene after the incident,
which happened around 9pm on Thursday.
She wrote, “They were knocked down by a convoy on high
speed. The owner of the convoy is yet to be identified. Five people died on the
spot–the …